Duff McKagan

If Steven Tylers Does the Voice in My Head Bother You? is a gross, sensational, unnecessary ego trip, and Patti Smiths Just Kids is an excessively precious monument to herself, Duff McKagans Its So Easy (and Other Lies) escapes both those memoir traps. All the rock confessions and backstage hijinks are thereincluding the night Duff and his Guns N Roses bandmates tried to burn down a Seattle club, and his trading, pre-sobriety, a daily gallon of vodka for 10 bottles of wine. But rather than being a straight gutter-to-redemption tale or Behind the Music facsimile, the Seattle Weekly columnists autobiography tells the parallel stories of an emerging punk scene in back home in Seattle (with its heroin underbelly) and his contrasting '80s experience in L.A. with the worlds biggest band. And, unlike some who didn't survive the hair-metal era, Duff relates how he quit drinking, became a happily married family man and father, and settled comfortably back in his hometown. Tonight, he'll read, take questions, and play an acoustic set with members of his band Loaded, aided by in-demand sideman Jeff Fielder. (Duff is also doing a 7 p.m. book signing at Third Place Books tonight; another signing-only at University Book Store on Weds. at 7 p.m.; and an extended onstage interview with Professor Sharon Cumberland of Seattle University, where he's pursuing a business degree, on Fri. at 7:30 p.m.) CHRIS KORNELIS